Dragon Age: Origins Catch-All

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Dragon Age: Origins is the "Spiritual Successor" of BG. It is a strictly single player "Dark Fantasy" RPG built on what Bioware called "the Eclipse Engine." The game uses a "DnD like" rule system. The PC version of the game will be released with a Toolset that is promised to be more powerful and more accessible then those of previous Bioware games.

Since this is asked a lot: There will NOT be Multiplayer of DA:O. Perhaps it will be available in a sequel, but definitely not in DA:O.
******Patch 1.02 is out****** See linked thread for details (thanks Jeff-66)What this thread is about
This thread is here to give fellow gamers some general information on the game, to help newbies understand what the game is all about. The thread can also be used for technical help and general tips and tricks. SPOILER DISCUSSION HERE.

Please keep me updated on any info that you find, so I can keep the OP as updated as possible. Also, let me know if you think a section should be changed somehow. Thanks!

Table of Content

This first post (OP): general information on the game. Differences between PC and Console version. Useful links.

Planned contents:
- Compiled list of player tips, kind of a list of "Gee, I wish I knew that before I started the game." Also, some general technical support info.
- Mods. (I think keeping this one updated will be the death of me. )

Differences between PC and Console versions (or why you should play the PC version eventually )

Basically, Console version of the game is easier, and more action oriented. Whereas the PC version of the game will be harder, requires more tactical planning in battles. Console version will have game play more akin to that of Mass Effect, whereas the PC version will play more like BG (with lots of pausing).

At release, console version of DA will have a 3rd-person "over the shoulder" view that is NOT changeable. Only the PC version will have the "isometric view" (in addition to the 3rd-person view). post.

While the PC version of DA will provide a more complete experience. Bioware has done a fantastic job of porting the game to the console. All the changes (gameplay and UI) in the console version make sense for the console. As a die-hard PC-only gamer, I actually think that the "vanilla" game experience of DA on consoles will be just as complete as that of the PC.

The key benefit (or bane) of PC version is that it will be easily tweakable and more importantly, moddable. DA:O is poised to have a very active "modding scene." However, console players will be happy to know that Bioware has said that they plan to port "good" mods to the console versions of DA.

General info, or why you SHOULD play the game:

Full list here (updated semi-regularly)
In short, if phrases like "lots of unique NPC interactions and banters;" "In depth Party based combat systems;" "Deep character developement;" "lots of choices, with no clear indication of "good/evil;" "BG in 3D;" make you happy. Then you SHOULD get DA. (Oh did I mention there will be sex and lots of blood too?)

Decisions are just decisions, there are neither "good" or "bad"
[quote=LobsterMobster] *In response to being rewarded with a in-game shack for NOT nuking FO3 city Megaton*
Yeah, but if you set off the bomb in Megaton you are rewarded with a parking lot!

There are currently two books written for Dragon Age. First there is The Stolen Throne then there is The Calling. I am reading the first one right now, and while the expert opinion is that the books don't have supurb writing and incredible stories, I am enjoy the book very much.
I think they are worth reading for fans of Dragon Age for sure. Both books can be considered "prequel" to the game.

Decisions are just decisions, there are neither "good" or "bad"
[quote=LobsterMobster] *In response to being rewarded with a in-game shack for NOT nuking FO3 city Megaton*
Yeah, but if you set off the bomb in Megaton you are rewarded with a parking lot!

I'm sure this was asked earlier, a little late the party so excuse me, but has there been any talk about adding in multiplayer modules at a later point? Or am I wrong in thinking that at some point they stated there would be no multiplayer at all, period?

Hehe, np Certis. It is easier to track this way anyways. I will be putting up the Technical thread up soon. Though it will be pretty empty for now.

Thanks garion333, I have updated the post.

Decisions are just decisions, there are neither "good" or "bad"
[quote=LobsterMobster] *In response to being rewarded with a in-game shack for NOT nuking FO3 city Megaton*
Yeah, but if you set off the bomb in Megaton you are rewarded with a parking lot!

You may want to try "manipulate" the opening post instead. Molesting falls under the "Intimidate" side of the Coercion skill, which is Strength based, where-as manipulation falls under the "Persuasion" side, and is based on your Cunning. I haven't seen your build, but I'm guessing you'll have more success using the later.

So for my first playthrough of any game, I generally try to be good, and influential. Generally I find you open up more of the story options this way. It seems that you need to emphasize Cunning as an attribute so that you can Persuade folks to see things your way. I guess that means no fighter for me! I'll see what the rogue is all about for my first playthrough instead.

FSeven wrote:
Chumpy_McChump wrote:

pPunc"tuat,,ion is: har'd!
.

So am I after seeing how readily you throw convention and rules out the window you big hunk of rebellious man love, you.

Let's hold off on a technical thread for now. I think the catch-all will handle that role fine while the spoiler thread will take the load of quest and story discussion.

Also removed release date since all versions are out tomorrow. I leave the rest to you!

Oh thank you for the image! I was having a hard time deciding what image to use... I didn't want to make the OP too image heavy and didn't want to hotlink images that I really shouldn't.

Spoiler thread will definitely be nice to have. I will keep this thread updated later with mods and general support info then.

Decisions are just decisions, there are neither "good" or "bad"
[quote=LobsterMobster] *In response to being rewarded with a in-game shack for NOT nuking FO3 city Megaton*
Yeah, but if you set off the bomb in Megaton you are rewarded with a parking lot!

Thanks for putting in the work to keep these threads up to date, lethial.

I just had the horrid realization that since I'll be playing this on my husband's PC (which has the CPU and graphics to handle the game), I will be playing on his PC, and it will be politic to yield to him when he wants to use it. And all his amateur radio equipment is hooked up to that machine, and he's just about done setting up a new antenna that he's going to want to use.

Definition of a geek: Someone who uses his wife's "Find my iPhone" account to see if she's upstairs. -my other half

I know Amazon had it for $56.99 with a $10 coupon towards another game if you pre-ordered

I got the PC version from Amazon. $46.99, you still get the $10 coupon, and free release-day delivery if you're a Prime member. Btw, I found out those $10 coupons are good for anything from the Amazon gaming store, not just games. I bought a MS Racing Wheel yesterday for Forza 3, and Amazon applied one of those $10 thingies to that.

That character planning spreadsheet was a bit of an information overload! Is there a nice, tidy breakdown of what the skills/talents/spells actually are anywhere? The only one I've seen so far was on a frustrating site that had each rank of each skill on a different page.

That character planning spreadsheet was a bit of an information overload! Is there a nice, tidy breakdown of what the skills/talents/spells actually are anywhere? The only one I've seen so far was on a frustrating site that had each rank of each skill on a different page.

There's been a lot of nerd rage about the entire "Day One DLC" and inventory issue. I just can't buy into it. I cannot recall a single RPG I've ever played that didn't use limited inventory space as a mechanic, Dragon Age is no different here.

That character planning spreadsheet was a bit of an information overload! Is there a nice, tidy breakdown of what the skills/talents/spells actually are anywhere? The only one I've seen so far was on a frustrating site that had each rank of each skill on a different page.

There's been a lot of nerd rage about the entire "Day One DLC" and inventory issue. I just can't buy into it. I cannot recall a single RPG I've ever played that didn't use limited inventory space as a mechanic, Dragon Age is no different here.

They just need to have the player character say something interesting when the inventory's full:

"I gotta pawn some of this stuff."

"Too much baggage!"

"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie

"Butt hat is my opinion and we all know how far that goes around here." - Demonicmaster

There's been a lot of nerd rage about the entire "Day One DLC" and inventory issue. I just can't buy into it. I cannot recall a single RPG I've ever played that didn't use limited inventory space as a mechanic, Dragon Age is no different here.

Agreed. Warden's keep is an add-on, not a native part of the game. If all of the over-entitled nerd-rage reaches critical mass, the next time this comes up, the developer will choose not to add additional content, rather than throwing the test audience a bone.

DLC is here to stay. Sure the publishers need some time to figure out how to balance revenue with player happiness, but the days of pay once, up-front are gone. If the developers have to pay the salaries of teams working on the game, the money has to come from somewhere. The key to pricing DLC is to make the price trivial or to make the DLC optional. $7 seems trivial enough to me and I'm broke, but if I couldn't find some way to scrape up $7, I could be happy enough playing the game the way the design team first imagined it.

Besides, even if we do complain about not having permanent storage, when they make it available, we'll soon be complaining that the difficulty level has been nerfed. We gamers are difficult to please.

OG_slinger wrote:

"Your creationism-educated children will make fantastic ditch-diggers for their Chinese overlords."